Over 200 home improvement contractors across New York State reached agreements with the state for allegedly violating laws pertaining to contracts for customers. The contractors are accused of failing to provide written contracts to customers, and skirted other laws as well. State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said that 211 contractors violated parts of the state’s Home Improvement Contracts Law. 48 of those violators are contractors located in the Binghamton area, 31 are from the Buffalo area, 28 from Rochester and 27 from Poughkeepsie. The contractors signed an agreement to end unlawful conduct, and also pay penalties and fines up to $1,500 following the investigation by Schneiderman’s office. The attorney general says the charges mostly dealt with contractors not putting contracts in writing or not putting deposits for the work into specific bank accounts. The lack of a contract often leads to consumers ending up with larger bills than expected or projects that never start or are never completed. By law, the contract must describe the work to be done, the materials to be provided, and notice that a consumer has three days to cancel the contract without penalty.
